Boys Ranch Taking Over Care Of Foster Children

NEWS IN BRIEF

December 31, 1996

ALTOONA — Starting Wednesday, children taken from their parents in Lake County because of neglect or abuse will be cared for by the Lake County Boys Ranch, a private nonprofit agency that serves troubled children.

The Altoona-based ranch and the state agency from which it is taking the cases signed a contract Monday authorizing the two-year project.

The ranch will be paid $636 a month for each child it shelters, said Pam Brown, a spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Ranch officials said they hope to move children out of foster care and into permanent homes faster than the former state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services did.

The private program should be no more expensive than traditional protective services, ranch officials said, because the ranch will be paid a fixed fee for each child, regardless of the length of stay and the services the child requires. The arrangement gives the ranch an added incentive to move children out of the system, ranch director Tom Manning said.

The fee is based on the cost of sheltering and feeding the child and providing services, Brown said. It will be reviewed in two months.